Sudan’s Minister of Finance and Economy, Ibrahim Elbadawi, on Thursday, said the country requires up to $5 billion in budget support to avoid economic collapse and launch reforms after the ouster of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir.
During an interview with Reuters, Elbadawi said Sudan has only enough foreign currency reserves to fund imports for a few weeks as it has lost most of its oil wealth with South Sudan’s secession in 2011. He added that Sudan has had some support for fuel and wheat imports but about 65 percent of its 44 million people live in poverty and it needs up to $2 billion in development funding along with a hoped-for $2 billion from Arab development funds.
For the first time, Elbadawi also offered some details of the reform plans. He said the government is working to increase public salaries and establish a social support network to prepare for the removal of fuel and food subsidies.
Mass protests over price hikes for bread, fuel, and shortage of cash led to the uprising against Bashir, who was toppled in April by the military. Protests have continued since, with people killed in clashes with security forces.
“We have started the process (of reforms),” Elbadawi said on Thursday. “The people of Sudan deserve to be seen in a radically different prism than the international community used to see Sudan, as a country ruled by a pariah state.”
When asked how much budget support was needed for 2020, the minister said: “Some estimates say between three to four billion (US dollars), maybe even five billion.”
Elbadawi said the civilian government, which has taken over for three years under a power-sharing deal with the military, has drawn more than half of $3 billion in support for imports of wheat and fuel offered by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in April.
He added that a donor meeting has been planned to be held in December and that the government had agreed with the United States it could start approaching international institutions for support while still being on a list of terrorism-sponsoring countries.
